Dive Summary:

• The Italian chocolate company Ferrero has yanked ads in Germany promoting its white chocolate Ferrero Küsschen product using the slogan "Germany votes White."
• The ads, dreamed up by M&C Saatchi, were meant to coincide with elections in Germany, leveraging political themes but not xenophobia.
• Ferrero has since hosted discussions about the issue on its Facebook page and issued a statement via email to Der Spiegel saying, "It is important for us to clearly stress that we are strictly against any form of xenophobia, right-extremism or racism."

Dive Insight:

Ferrero already faced some unwanted publicity this year after it had to back-peddle on its cease-and-desist letter to the founder of World Nutella day. That initial confrontation may have been a little easier to understand from a legal standpoint. Looking at this new ad, however, it's tough to imagine how the company thought this campaign would play well.